U.S. industry alliance builds drone and anti-armor killer

A multi-company team has successfully tested a mobile counter-drone and anti-armor system mounted on a light utility vehicle, combining an Echodyne radar, a Dillon Aero M134 minigun, APKWS guided rockets, and Aeon’s Zeus missile in a single modular platform.

The system is built on Moog’s Flexible Mission Platform, a modular weapons integration architecture that the company developed to allow different payloads and sensors to be combined and exchanged without requiring a purpose-built vehicle for each mission set. The test, conducted by Moog alongside Aeon, Dillon Aero, and Echodyne, validated the integrated system’s ability to engage both aerial drone threats and armored ground targets from the same lightweight vehicle platform, a capability combination that addresses two of the most pressing tactical problems facing small units in modern combat simultaneously.

The Echodyne EchoShield radar is the sensing layer that makes the system’s autonomous threat detection and engagement possible. Echodyne, a Washington state-based radar technology company, has built its EchoShield specifically for counter-drone applications, using metamaterial electronically scanned array technology to provide 3D detection and tracking of small unmanned aerial systems across a wide field of view.

The radar’s ability to detect, classify, and track small targets in cluttered ground environments, where commercial radars designed for aviation applications struggle to distinguish drones from terrain features and other moving objects, is the technical foundation that allows the system to cue weapons onto targets without requiring a human operator to manually identify each threat. When paired with the M134 minigun, a six-barrel 7.62mm rotary weapon capable of firing up to 3,000 rounds per minute that Dillon Aero manufactures and supports for U.S. special operations forces, the EchoShield provides the detection and tracking data the gun needs to engage fast-moving small drones that human operators cannot reliably track by eye.

The APKWS, or Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, extends the system’s engagement envelope against drone threats that are too small or too fast for the minigun at longer ranges, or against targets requiring a precision guided effect. APKWS is a laser guidance kit produced by BAE Systems that converts standard 70mm Hydra unguided rockets into precision-guided munitions, achieving accuracy measured in meters at ranges of several kilometers. Against drone targets flying predictable approach paths, a laser-guided 70mm rocket offers a cost-effective alternative to dedicated interceptor missiles, and its integration on the same vehicle as the EchoShield radar and M134 minigun creates a layered kinetic counter-drone capability that addresses different threat ranges and profiles from a single platform.

The anti-armor capability comes from the MX-10D electro-optical and infrared payload paired with Aeon’s Zeus missile. The MX-10D is a stabilized multi-sensor turret providing day and thermal imaging for target identification and tracking at extended ranges, giving the operator the visual situational awareness needed to identify and engage armored targets before committing a missile. Aeon’s Zeus is a lightweight anti-armor missile designed for employment from small vehicles and dismounted platforms, targeting the gap between man-portable anti-tank weapons with limited range and heavy anti-armor missiles that require larger vehicles and more complex logistics. The combination of the MX-10D’s long-range identification capability and the Zeus missile’s engagement range turns the same light utility vehicle that can engage drone swarms with the EchoShield and APKWS into a credible anti-armor platform capable of engaging armored vehicles on the move.

The vehicle platform visible in the released imagery is a commercial utility vehicle of the type widely used by U.S. special operations forces and partner militaries for reconnaissance, logistics, and direct action operations. Mounting a counter-drone and anti-armor system on a platform of that class rather than a purpose-built armored vehicle or a larger tactical truck is a deliberate design choice that prioritizes mobility, air transportability, and accessibility over protection. A system that can be loaded into a CH-47 Chinook, driven on roads accessible to civilian vehicles, and operated by a small crew carries a deployment flexibility that heavier systems cannot match, at the cost of the crew protection and payload capacity that larger platforms provide.

The modular architecture of Moog’s Flexible Mission Platform is what makes the combination of these four companies’ technologies possible without a custom-built vehicle for each configuration. By establishing a common mechanical and electrical interface standard that different sensors, weapons, and payloads can connect to, the FMP reduces the integration engineering work required when combining systems from different manufacturers. That integration efficiency is precisely what allows Moog, Aeon, Dillon Aero, and Echodyne to bring a combined counter-drone and anti-armor capability to SOF Week as a tested system rather than a conceptual proposal, compressing the development timeline and reducing cost by building on proven components rather than developing new ones from scratch.

The new weapon system will be demonstrated at SOF Week 2026 in Tampa.